Here is a sample letter you can copy, paste and send to your elected officials. It’s always good to add your own words as well. And it’s easy to do. Just click on this link find your representatives: ttp://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Dear (Congress and Senate member):

All children worldwide deserve equal protection. So please tell me why children in the US are allowed to eat at minimum 12 times more man-made radioactive poison in their food than children in Japan?

I am writing to demand, in the continuing wake of the Japan nuclear catastrophe, that FDA be required to lower the recommended amount of radioactive cesium allowed in our food to 5 Bq/kg. I also demand that you request widespread testing of the US food supply immediately. It is our RIGHT TO KNOW how contaminated our food is and our choice whether or not we eat it. Everyone has the right to say “Bye-Bye, Becquerels!”

Japan’s nuclear industry and government have lost control (once again) of itsruined nuclear power complex at Fukushima, a site that continues to leak massive quantities of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean. This is adding to the existing toxic releases from atomic bomb tests and nuclear power over the past seven decades.

The American Medical Association has called for testing of seafood. Canada is going to start testing its salmon in light of an historic low in salmon numbers. Korea has been testing imports from Japan, returning food with small amounts of cesium contamination. Bluefin tuna tested from off of the California coast has been contaminated with Fukushima cesium. Radioactive jam from Bulgaria labeled “organic” and discovered in Japan has since been recalled there. This same brand of preserves is now being sold on American grocery shelves. How am I supposed to protect my child’s health against internal contamination if I don’t know how contaminated our food is?

As an elected official we are asking that you pass legislation to begin food testing immediately. The US FDA has a recommendation limit twelve times that of Japan at 1200 Bq/kg of cesium. Even with the continuing release of radioactivity into the Pacific, and food testing in other countries, the FDA stated to the press that it still sees no danger from man-made radiation in food even though children are more vulnerable to radiation damage.

Food testing is urgently needed. We demand that you take a stand and encourage your fellow congressmembers to do the same.

Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network or FFAN, filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to drastically reduce the amount of radioactive cesium permitted in food, from a ridiculous 1200 Bq/kg, to 5 Bq/kg (see why here, read why here). The Bq (Becquerel) is a measure of radioactivity. This week the FDA officially accepted the Citizen Petition filed by Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network into its process, which means they are now accepting comments.

Our petitions ask for a binding limit of 5 Bq/kg of cesium 134 & 137 combined, in food, nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals. This is necessary because of continuing exposure to radiation from atomic bomb testing and routine releases from nuclear power, and in the wake of the ongoing catastrophe at Fukushima, where the reactors are still releasing radioactivity. We also ask that testing be widespread and, when technologically feasible, measurements below 5 Bq/kg be taken. Through this effort, we would like a database of contamination levels to be established and maintained, with information relevant to researchers, so that movement of the cesium radionuclide in our environment can be tracked since it tends to biomagnify once released.

The current US FDA recommendation, which is not binding, is twelve times higher than the limit in Japan. Before the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan’s now accepted limit of 100 Bq/kg would have been enough radioactivity to handle the contaminated material like nuclear waste is handled. But after Fukushima, it is considered all right to eat it. Anything above that 100 Bq/kg could be placed in the markets of other countries, like the US, who have higher cesium limits.

Studies indicate that, in post-Chernobyl Belarus, at just 11 Bq/kg of internal cesium contamination children can be susceptible to heart problems. At 50 Bq/kg, children can start to have permanent tissue damage.

Additionally, in a 2011 report, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Germany, has determined that the European Union cesium limit of 370 Bq/kg for babies and 600 for adults is woefully unprotective. Such high limits for cesium could be responsible, in combination with other man-made radioactivity, like strontium-90, plutonium-239 and iodine-131 (cesium-137 is a sentinel-indicator for the presence of these other isotopes and often does not exist without them), for roughly 150,000 additional cancer deaths in Germany alone if people consume only products contaminated to the maximum permissible limit. This number does not account for incidence of cancer nor any other wide-ranging diseases or genetic disorders radiation could cause.

The highest limit in Europe is half of the 1200 Bq/kg of cesium the US FDA recommends as its action limit. We should note, however, that the US recommendation comports very closely with the 1250 Bq/kg limit for most foodstuffs proposed by EURATOM (European Atomic Energy Community), the body of the EU that promotes nuclear power.

The IPPNW report recommends a 4 Bq/kg of cesium 137 and a 4 Bq/kg limit of cesium 134 for children, limits very similar to the 5 Bq/kg we are asking the FDA to implement for everyone. Beyond Nuclear believes it is impractical for the US to have one standard for adults and one for children. It would be difficult to regulate, and add to the cost of implementation, so protection for the most vulnerable, those up to age 17 at least, should be the guiding principle used to set the standard. In fact, the IPPNW report recognizes this fact as well.

FFAN coalition partners will be spearheading public participation initiatives in support of this FDA petition, in addition to adding more supporting materials and amendments through the petition process as we help educate the public, the FDA and Congress on this issue. Stay tuned for upcoming actions!

There is no safe level for ingestion. Any amount of radioactivity in food lodges in the tissues and bombs nearby tissues until cancer results. Your petition is spreading the false idea that any amount is acceptable. These amounts are cumulative, and small children eat lots of varied foods. Huge amounts can bioaccumulate in their bodies over a lifetime. No food should be sold for human or animal consmption if any radioactivity is present. The science is clear.

I watched my child slowly die over 18 years following a radical radiation medical treatment for a brain tumor when she was 6 yrs old. The treatment irradiated the tumor, but the radiation caused severe health problems and damage to her brain, including a stroke, seizures, dementia, loss of speech and other problems which kept arising until she died at age 24. Radiation exposure can be a deadly threat to the public’s health. The worldwide network of nuclear reactors is in the business of “death-dealing” because we have no way to safely store all the spent radioactive fuel, we cannot stop old reactors from having failures, and we cannot control nature disasters similar to the Fukushima disaster, which is still on-going. Keeping radioactive wastes out of our food supply is an admirable cause which I support. We must begin somewhere to address the magnitude of the problem that radiation poisoning has brought to the world. I still have hope that we can find solutions to affirm life.

Diana thank you so much for your message, please accept my apologies for the long lapse in responding to you. This website is currently set up to receive comments on every page and unfortunately I didn’t see yours until the other day. I’ve thought about it ever since.

My heart goes out to you and your family, in every sense of the term. It’s you and mothers like you that keep FFAN going, honestly. Your precious child was unfairly taken from you and your family. As long as we continue to fight the good fight,and we will, we honor her life and legacy. I would like to know more about her when you get the chance, please feel free to email me at ffan@sonic.net. I promise you that FFAN will honor and hold your daughter’s memory as we continue to work on the challenges ahead.
Many thanks to you,
Kimberly Roberson
FFAN Founder and DirectorFFAN@sonic.net

I grew up 15 miles from San Onofre. Shutting it down was the right thing to do. There was a dead zone all around it in the ocean and that was 40 years ago. Please use lesss lethal fuel, and shut down the reactors that aren’t necessary.
Let the FDA, EPA and FAA do their jobs for the people. And NOAA and NASA…..